Newspaper representations of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD) and cancer in a Malaysian newspaper
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/cam.17603Keywords:
cancer, content analysis, hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD), Health Belief Model, media, newspapersAbstract
The present study examines newspaper coverage of hand, food and mouth disease (HFMD) and cancer, to compare how infectious and non-infectious diseases are represented in Malaysia. The Health Belief Model was used as the framework for selecting themes relevant to health actions for the content analysis of 69 articles (32,808 words in total) from the New Straits Times. It was found that more emphasis was given to HFMD (51 articles) than to cancer (18 articles). The information most frequently included in the articles was recommended health actions (3.8 mentions per article for HFMD; 1.1 for cancer). The articles represented HFMD as posing a greater threat than cancer, as more information on susceptibility (1.6 for HFMD; 0.3 for cancer) was included compared to severity (0.5 for HFMD; 0.2 for cancer). The HFMD articles stressed the outbreak of HFMD: incidence and deaths, symptoms, causes and preventive measures. However, the cancer articles were usually not incident-specific and focused on promoting a healthy lifestyle to avoid cancer and to warn readers of cancer prevalence. Only 17% of the cancer articles carried treatment themes. The findings suggest that news coverage of cancer should include medical research and advances to create better awareness of cancer.
References
Abeysinghe, Sudeepa (2016) Ebola at the borders: Newspaper representations and the politics of border control. Third World Quarterly 37 (3): 452–467. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2015.1111753
Adelman, Richard C. and Lois M. Verbrugge (2000) Death makes news: The social impact of disease on newspaper coverage. Journal of Health and Social Behavior 41 (3): 347–367. https://doi.org/10.2307/2676325
Ames, Bruce N., Lois Swirky Gold and Walter C. Willett (1995) The causes and prevention of cancer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 92 (12): 5258–5265. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.92.12.5258
Berry, Tanya R., Jodie A. Stearns, Kerry S. Courneya, Kerry R. McGannon, Colleen M. Norris, Wendy M. Rodgers and John C. Spence (2016) Women’s perceptions of heart disease and breast cancer and the association with media representations of the diseases. Journal of Public Health 38 (4): e496–e503.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) What are the risk factors for lung cancer? CDC website. Available online: https://www.cdc.gov/cancer/lung/basic_info/risk_factors.htm
Chan, L. G., Umesh D. Parashar, M. S. Lye, F. G. L. Ong, Sherif R. Zaki, James P. Alexander, K. K. Ho et al. (2000) Deaths of children during an outbreak of hand, foot, and mouth disease in Sarawak, Malaysia: Clinical and pathological characteristics of the disease. Clinical Infectious Diseases 31 (3): 678–683. https://doi.org/10.1086/314032
CodeBlue (2020). Cancer cases rise in Malaysia, Chinese most prone. CodeBlue website, 3 January Available online: https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2020/01/03/cancer-cases-rise-inmalaysia-chinese-most-prone/
Hayden, Joanna (2017) Introduction to Health Behaviour Theory (3rd edition). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
Hellyer, Nicole Elizabeth and Janet Haddock-Fraser (2011) Reporting diet-related health issues through newspapers: Portrayal of cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes. Health Education Research 26 (1): 13–25. https://doi.org/10.1093/her/cyq059
Janz, Nancy K. and Marshall H. Becker (1984) The Health Belief Model: A decade later. Health Education Quarterly 11 (1): 1–47. https://doi.org/10.1177/109019818401100101
Jerome, Collin and Su-Hie Ting (2017) Multimodal analysis of persuasive strategies in cancer risk messages in posters. Journal of Borneo Kalimantan 3 (2): 49–57. https://doi.org/10.33736/jbk.629.2017
Jensen, Jakob D., Cortney M. Moriarty, Ryan J. Hurley and Jo Ellen Stryker (2012) Making sense of cancer news coverage trends: A comparison of three comprehensive content analyses. Comunicação e Sociedade, Número Especial 39–55. https://doi.org/10.17231/comsoc.23(2012).1353
Joseph, Galen, Nancy J. Burke, Noe Tuason, Judith C. Barker and Rena J. Pasick (2009) Perceived susceptibility to illness and perceived benefits of preventive care: An exploration of behavioral theory constructs in a transcultural context. Health Education & Behavior 36 (Suppl. 5): 71S–90S. https://doi.org/10.1177/1090198109338915
LaMorte, Wayne W. (2019) The Health Belief Model: behavioral change. Boston University Medical Campus website. Available online: http://sphweb.bumc.bu.edu/otlt/MPH-Modules/SB/BehavioralChangeTheories/BehavioralChangeTheories2.html
Lawrence, Jody, Robin A. Kearns, Julie Park, Linda Bryder and Heather Worth (2008) Discourses of disease: Representations of tuberculosis within New Zealand newspapers 2002–2004. Social Science & Medicine 66 (3): 727–739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2007.10.015
Mahesar, Rameez Ali (2018) Newspaper coverage of suicide: A content analysis of Daily Kawish newspaper: An elite Sindhi newspaper of Pakistan. Journal of Mass Communication & Journalism 8 (3): Article 1000374. https://doi.org/10.4172/2165-7912.1000374
McCombs, Maxwell, Lance R. Holbert, Spiro Kiousis and Wayne Wanta (2011) The News and Public Opinion: Media Effects on Civic Life. Malden, MA: Polity Press.
Min, Hye Sook, E. Hwa Yun, Jinsil Park and Young Kim (2020) Cancer news coverage of Korean newspapers: An analytic study in terms of cancer awareness. Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health 53 (2): 126–134. https://doi.org/10.3961/jpmph.19.256
Ministry of Health, Malaysia (2007) Hand Foot and Mouth Disease (HFMD) Guidelines. [Putrajaya]: Ministry of Health, Malaysia. Available online: https://www.moh.gov.my/moh/resources/auto%20download%20images/589d71f714d23.pdf
Miyawaki, Rina, Ai Shibata, Kaori Ishii and Koichiro Oka (2017) News coverage of cancer in Japanese newspapers: A content analysis. Health Communication 32 (4): 420–426. https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2016.1138391
Mou, Jian and Jason Cohen (2014) Trust, risk barriers and health beliefs in consumer acceptance of online health services. Paper presented at the 35th International Conference on Information Systems, Auckland, 14–17 December.
New Straits Times (2019) Majority of cancer cases detected at later stages in Malaysia. New Straits Times, 4 February. Available online: https://www.nst.com.my/lifestyle/heal/2019/02/457189/majority-cancer-cases-detected-later-stagesmalaysia
Nokman, Farhana Syed (2018) 51,147 cases of HFMD diagnosed in Malaysia this year. New Straits Times, 16 August. Available online: https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2018/08/401899/51147-cases-hfmd-diagnosed-malaysia-year
Onozuka, Daisuke and Masahiro Hashizume (2011) The influence of temperature and humidity on the incidence of hand, foot, and mouth disease in Japan. Science of the Total Environment 410–411: 119–125. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.09.055
Patterson, Chris, Carol Emslie, Olivia Mason, Gillian Fergie and Shona Hilton (2016) Content analysis of UK newspaper and online news representations of women’s and men’s ‘binge’ drinking: A challenge for communicating evidence-based messages about single-episodic drinking? BMJ Open 6 (12): Article e013124. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2016-013124
Patterson, Chris, Sean Semple, Karen Wood, Sheila Duffy and Shona Hilton (2015) A quantitative content analysis of UK newsprint coverage of proposed legislation to prohibit smoking in private vehicles carrying children. BMC Public Health 15 (1): Article 760. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-015-2110-x
Podin, Yuwana, Edna L. Gias, Flora Ong, Yee-Wei Leong, Siew-Fung Yee, Mohd Apandi Yusof et al. (2006) Sentinel surveillance for human Enterovirus 71 in Sarawak, Malaysia: Lessons from the first 7 years. BMC Public Health 6 (1): Article 180. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-6-180
Ribeiro, Barbara, Sarah Hartley, Brigitte Nerlich and Rusi Jaspal (2018) Media coverage of the Zika crisis in Brazil: The construction of a ‘war’ frame that masked social and gender inequalities. Social Science & Medicine 200: 137–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.01.023
Rosenstock, Irwin M., Victor J. Strecher and Marshall H. Becker (1988) Social learning theory and the Health Belief Model. Health Education & Behaviour 15 (2): 175–183. https://doi.org/10.1177/109019818801500203
Salari, Raziye and Ania Filus (2016) Using the Health Belief Model to explain mothers’ and fathers’ intention to participate in universal parenting programs. Prevention Science 18 (1): 83–94. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-016-0696-6
Shim, Minsun, Yong-Chan Kim, Su Yeon Kye and Keeho Park (2016) News portrayal of cancer: Content analysis of threat and efficacy by cancer type and comparison with incidence and mortality in Korea. Journal of Korean Medical Science 31 (8): 1231–1238. https://doi.org/10.3346/jkms.2016.31.8.1231
Taylor, David, Michael Bury, Natasha Campling, Sarah Carter, Sara Garfied, Jenny Newbould and Timothy Rennie (2006) A Review of the Use of the Health Belief Model (HBM), the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB) and the Trans-Theoretical Model (TTM) to Study and Predict Health Related Behaviour Change. London: National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence.
Ting, Su-Hie and Collin Jerome (2017) Framing of disease risk messages in airport banners. International Journal of Law, Government and Communication 2 (6): 63–75.
Ting, Su-Hie, Rayenda Khresna Brahmana, Collin Jerome and Yuwana Podin (2021) Factors influencing intention to undertake nasopharyngeal cancer risk reducing behaviors. Asia Pacific Social Science Review 21 (10): 102–114.
Washer, Peter (2004) Representations of SARS in the British newspapers. Social Science & Medicine 59 (12): 2561–2571. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.03.038
Washer, Peter (2006) Representations of mad cow disease. Social Science & Medicine 62 (2): 457–466. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2005.06.001
World Health Organization (2021) Cancer: Key facts. WHO website. Available online: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/cancer
Published
Issue
Section
License
copyright Equinox Publishing Ltd.
